Spotlight On...Liliana Ashman

Name: Liliana Ashman

Hometown: Santa Fe, NM

Education: B.A. Theatre Arts, Drew University

Favorite Credits: All Hell Lay Beneath with Sugarglass Theatre Company, Dublin; Lady MacBeth with The British American Drama Academy Midsummer in Oxford, U.K).; Ida Cartmill in Rock Shore with Theaterwork, Santa Fe.

Why theater?: I love it. The whole creative process is incredible even when it can be terribly stressful. I love bringing an audience together and sharing an experience or a story. Being able to communicate that live is so powerful and exhilarating.

Tell us about How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gardaí?: It's a one woman play about my experience of immigration. Having grown up in Santa Fe I was always aware of immigration but it was not until I was directly affected by it that I reflected critically on how important of an issue it is.

What inspired you to create How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gardai?: I decided to write and perform the play after I was almost deported from Ireland. I felt that I needed to tell my story.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Theatre that makes you think and resonates after you have left the performance. A piece that causes a discussion amongst strangers. I love theatre that explores movement in innovative ways. I really admire the work of Elevator Repair Service, The Wooster Group, Brokentalkers, and junk ensemble.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Mark Rylance.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Shakespeare's Globe Twelfth Night
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Well I recently took a BuzzFeed quiz that said Danielle Radcliffe would play me. But really I would like Lena Dunham or Jennifer Lawrence to play me and the movie would be called “Lili in Translation”.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Binge watching something on Netflix and eating cheese.

What’s the most played song on your iPod?: “Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)” by Florence + The Machine

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: Rolling in it.

What’s up next?: I'm seeing where How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Garda will take me over the next year
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